"Oh, hon," Emily wrapped her arms around me tightly, so tight I fought for air. "We will miss you so much."

We stood outside of DIA, in the drop-off lane. Len's car sat next to us, still running, since we could stay for long. It was around 10:30 in the morning. The sky was overcast, and I had no doubt it was snowing back at home. People swarmed around us as they said goodbye and unloaded luggage.

Len hugged his dad next to us. "See you, son. Come visit us when you can."

Len nodded slowly. "I will." His voice was low, and his eyes didn't leave the ground.

I thought of my own parents, and how I could drive down to Denver and visit them whenever I wanted to. Len didn't have that luxury.

"And you too!" Mike called to me with a smile.

For the first time all week, it was extremely difficult for Len and I to act like a couple. I gave his father my best friendly smile, before giving him a wave. "I'll come see you guys when I can!" It wasn't exactly a lie. Before this trip, I never would have imagined becoming this close with his family. It was just a shame I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to Lily.

The attendant who was manning the drop-off lane waved us on. Len started back for his car. His parents gave us one last wave before they disappeared inside.

Fuck. Here it was. The part I had been dreading.

The car ride home was silent. At first I tried my best to fall asleep, but I had already slept through the entire drive here, and my suddenly clouded mind kept me from sleep. I settled for watching the scenery fly by out the window instead.

This was my chance to talk to him. This was my chance to clarify what I had meant by "wanting to stop pretending." But I couldn't. My mind kept flashing back to my confession, his disappointed face replaying in my head over and over again. If he thought I wanted to cut it off, and was disappointed, then he obviously wanted to stick with it. But… had he been disappointed? Had I imagined it? What if I had? What if he had heard what he wanted to hear? That would explain why he misunderstood me… or what if he hadn't misunderstood me at all? Maybe my confession had made him uncomfortable. Maybe he didn't feel the same way.

Shit, Rin, I thought to myself, squeezing my eyes shut. What have you done?

A wave of relief washed over me the second we entered the mountains. We were going home. It would be normal, everything would go back to normal. The way it was before. I would get over this, and Len and I would meet for coffee every morning that we could. And maybe we could invite Miku or Luka along for a while. The air in the car was so thick I felt I could pick it out of the air. It would probably be like this with us for a while, too, I admitted to myself. Having our friends with us when we hung out would help with that.

At least, I hoped it would.

Our kisses popped into my mind immediately, and I huffed in annoyance. Step one of getting over this: Don't think about kissing the boy. Ugh. Why am I like this.

But I couldn't help it. Our first kiss was… when was it? Oh, right, it was the day after his parents came into town. A week ago, exactly. Wow, it was only a week ago. It felt like ages, yet, at the same time, it felt like it was yesterday. We had gone through so much and kept busy all week, and yet it had only been a week.

Anyway. The kiss.

I had initiated it. Had I initiated any of the others?

… No, I couldn't think of any. A smile taunted the edges of my lips. Len only needed one to break the ice, and then he had no problem with it. Shy, nerdy little Len.

Stop, Rin. It's over. There's no point in-

"Thank you."

I jumped at his words. "What?" This was the first time he had spoken to me since the night before.

"Thank you for helping me out this week."

Him speaking to me had gotten my hopes up. Now, they were dying down again. "Yeah," I breathed out, leaning my head against the window. "No problem."

And then it was silent once again.

We didn't exchange any more words until we reached his apartment. He parked, and we walked into his apartment together for the last time. I walked slowly, my feet dragging behind me, but I kept going nonetheless. Len walked ahead of me. He wouldn't look at me.

The quiet atmosphere of his apartment hit me one last time as he opened the door. Wordlessly, he sat down on the couch in the living room. Nothing like some sports to make a boy feel better, I thought, trying, and failing, to joke even with myself.

I took the hint, and entered his room. The sheets on his bed were still ruffled from where we - I - had slept there last night. My backpack was still sprawled across the floor on my side of the bed, only now my clothes were going to be much harder to find.

A couple pairs of my leggings were on the bathroom floor, where Len and I brushed our teeth together every morning and every night. Where he walked in on me wearing only a towel like it was nothing.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. There was no point in dwelling on them now.

The bag of… toys from Lily's party sat under Len's bed. I didn't touch them. "Hell, he will probably get more use out of them than me, I thought with amusement. With someone else. The amusement disappeared.

There were a few bags of clothes from our shopping spree with Len's parents a week ago. I was able to shove all of them into my backpack, with one plastic shopping bag leftover. It was no problem carrying my backpack and one extra bag.

That was everything. With my backpack on my back, and the shopping bag in my hand, I slowly stood and surveyed the room one last time. It had only been a week. And there were so many memories here.

There. Now it's not awkward.

...They don't really understand how lucky they are to have you.

You sure do love your toys, don't you?

We have a few hours of extreme coupliness ahead of us.

"Quit it," I said aloud. "Just quit it."

"Quit what?"

I had left the door open, and Len had silently made his way over, and was now leaning in the doorway.

I whirled around. "N-nothing. It's just… weird to leave." Again, not a lie.

He nodded slowly. His eyes scanned the floor. "Yeah. It is."

Tell him. Do it now. Do it. "W-what's wrong?"

"Tired from driving." He answered quickly.

"Oh."

Nothing. I couldn't leave, he was in the door. There must have been something he wanted to tell me, but couldn't bring it out. Why else would he basically trap me in here?

"It's weird now," was all he said. "Between us."

Us. My heart fluttered. Us. I didn't know how to respond.

"...I ruined us."

"No you didn't!" I yelled before he could say anything else. "You didn't. I agreed to help you, I agreed to this plan, and it's going to be weird for a little, yeah, but we'll get over it!" I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "We always do."

"But it was my idea."

"And it was my pleasure to help you out. It was a great week."

He pulled one of his hands out of his pockets and rubbed the nape of his neck nervously. "Sorry," he said again, moving out of the way this time. "I know you probably want to get home."

Hell fucking no I don't. Why couldn't I just say was I was thinking? It's what I always did, anyway. Why couldn't I do it now? When it would actually help me?

I chuckled. "Yeah," I answered instead. I started out of his room, feeling myself falling deeper and deeper into a pit with every step I took.

Crossed the apartment. Opened the door. Len stood behind me. One last deep breath.

"Coffee tomorrow?" I asked him over my shoulder. I could feel him standing behind me, holding the door open.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"...see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you."

I stood in the doorway for too long, before I finally willed my legs to move. Out into the silent hallway. One foot after another. The door creaked as it closed behind me. The second the handle clicked shut, I froze.

I was ten steps away. No, eight. Standing in the middle of the hallway with a backpack and a shopping bag, I must have looked ridiculous. To add to the insanity, my eyes were welling with tears.

Why, why, why? Why am I like this? Why can't I just tell him?

I entered an internal battle with myself. Because it's a one way street, Rin.

Then why would he kiss me when no one was around? Hold my hand when he knew I needed it? Let me sleep in the same bed with him? Share a bathroom with him? Introduce me to his entire family?

I didn't even try to stop my tears from falling. There was no way I could walk home alone tonight. Sleeping in my own lumpy, cold bed alone? Forget it. Len wouldn't be able to function without my coffee. I couldn't meet him tomorrow morning like everything was normal, like I didn't miss staying up late with him, miss cuddling and kissing him.

Without giving myself the chance to second guess myself, I turned around, stomped my way back to his door, and pounded on it with a balled fist.

He opened it instantly, a shocked expression covering his face at the sight of my tearstained, angry face.

"You're so… fucking stupid!" I yelled angrily at him, tears still falling.

His mouth dropped open. I didn't give him the chance to speak.

"You think you could just give me a week like that and expect me to want to go back to my shitty, small apartment with my neighbors who never shut the fuck up and my basic cable with none of the movie channels and sleep in my shitty-ass bed bed by my fucking self? You think I can just forget how awesome it was to be with you nonstop for a week, with your incessant 'fake' flirting and making out with me at the most random times? Even when your family was nowhere near us? And putting flowers in my hair and staring me down during a fucking wedding and dancing with me - you really think I want to go home?!" I was nearly screaming now, and the tears hadn't stopped either.

He was stunned. "Y-you said you didn't want to pret-"

"I know what I said! And I didn't want it to be over, I wanted it to be real!"

There it was. I said it. My shoulders were heaving from a combination of yelling and crying, the plastic bag had fallen to the floor, my hands were stilled balled into fists, I felt like a bull ready to charge. Just a really, really sad bull.

I looked down at the floor, the anger suddenly draining out of me. My shoulders fell. He wasn't saying anything. I told you, Rin. This is a one-way street.

My fingers relaxed, and I slowly raised them up to cover my face. Fuck, I look so stupid. So pathetic. So-

Len grabbed the plastic bag, threw it in his apartment, yanked me inside, and shut the door. Before I could question him, I was wrapped in another of his famous bear hugs. He held the back of my head, pulling me into his chest. He was breathing heavily, just like me.

"Please stop crying," he muttered. "I really don't like seeing you cry."

Have I cried in front of him before? I couldn't remember.

He took a deep breath. "I don't want you to leave, either. I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. So just… don't leave, okay?"

My heart swelled. He wasn't asking for my sake. He was asking for his. I closed my eyes, returning his hug. "Th-that's all I wanted." My normal, joking tone returned for a moment before I resumed my sniffling. I wiped my head back and forth on his t-shirt to wipe away my excess tears.

He leaned back, placing a hand on each side of my reddened face. Stray tears still fell from my eyes, and I tried to look away from him, but Len held me firmly in place. He wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

A smile formed. "Stop it," he teased.

I chuckled. "I will." My voice was still more of a whimper than anything.

"Stooooop it," he sang.

"I am."

And then he pulled me in, not being gentle about his kiss this time. Our lips smashed into each other. I wrapped my arms around his neck and intertwined my fingers behind him. One of his hands entangled itself in my hair, pulling me even closer to him, the other falling to my waist and wrapping tightly. Our breathing was labored and uneven. See, Rin? I told myself. This is what happens when you learn how to talk to people.

I broke the kiss off for just a moment as I took a deep breath in. His eyes opened for just a moment, staring at me with those low-lidded, loving eyes. I leaned back in, our tongues dancing.

His arms slid down my body before stopping at the back of my thighs. I gasped as he lifted me up, setting me gently on the kitchen counter. I pulled back for a moment to let out a laugh, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?" he asked, his voice little more than a growl.

His deep tone gave me shivers. "What do we do now?" I asked innocently.

"Well," he looked over toward his door, and back at me. Our noses were nearly touching.

"There is a bag of sex toys under my bed."

Holy shit, guys. This is, like, the first story I have uploaded here and finished. It's... crazy.

I don't know why, but not too long ago I started thinking about this story a lot, and I felt like I just really needed to finish it. I guess I've just been hit with a wave of inspiration. I don't know if I'll start up other stories, or finish the ones I already have, or add more to The Collection (if you haven't checked out my short stories collection, feel free to!).

Thank you guys for all your support. Rereading all the reviews from a few years ago really helped me finish this guy. It's amazing how motivating it was. So thank you guys! I hope you enjoyed reading!

Also, sorry about any mistakes! I'm sure there are lots in all of these new chapters. I ran them all out in less than a week and got pretty lazy with spell checking, so please, forgive me.

Love you guys!